Pointed Spells

It’s Dagger Week this week, and while daggers have long been associated with wizards and other mages in fantasy roleplaying games, and actually have a long history as ritual implements in spellcasting in the real world (go look up athames, if you don’t believe me), they don’t really have much to do with actual spellcasting in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, or, for that matter, most other fantasy RPGs. Really, the dagger is there as a last resort (and, considering the average wizard’s base attack bonus, is probably better used for ending your own life quickly than trying to actually fight anyone with it). That really isn’t going to change all that much today, but at least there will be a few more spells that are thematically linked to daggers.

Athame Attunement

You create a magical harmonic resonance between yourself and the dagger, which causes the dagger to respond to spells you cast. For the duration of the spell, when you cast a spell with the acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic descriptors, the dagger becomes charged with that energy type. The dagger can only be charged with one energy type at a time. If you later cast another spell with a different energy type, the dagger becomes charged with that energy type, instead. Similarly, the dagger cannot be “double charged” by casting more than one spell of the same energy type.

For the spell’s duration, as long as the dagger is charged, it deals an extra 1 point of damage of the appropriate energy type, plus an additional point of damage of that energy type for every 5 caster levels you possess.

If the dagger is used to attack a creature with spell resistance, roll to determine whether or not you beat the creature’s spell resistance with each hit. In the case of a success, the spell resistance has no effect. If you fail, that dagger does its normal damage, but does not deal the extra damage granted by this spell. Either way, the next time you hit that creature you will roll to determine whether or not you beat its spell resistance for the purposes of that hit.

At the end of the spell’s duration, the dagger loses any charge it possesses.

Daggerstorm

You summon a cloud of daggers which rain down from the sky in the spell’s area, slashing creatures therein to ribbons. Each creature in the affected area takes 1d4 points of slashing damage per caster level (to a maximum of 10d4 at 10th level). Because this damage is inflicted by mundane daggers, any damage reduction possessed by creatures in the area applies as normal. The daggers created by this spell remain for 1 minute, after which they vanish in a puff of smoke.

Dancing Daggers

Daggers appear from nowhere and begin to hover around you in the air, flying forward to attack whoever you point at. When you cast this spell, you conjure a number of daggers equal to your caster level (to a maximum of 10 daggers at 10th level). For the spell’s duration, as a standard action, you can direct up to three of these daggers to fly through the air at up to three targets. Treat these as ranged attacks with a range increment and maximum range both equal to the spell’s range. If the attack hits, it deals 1d4 points of slashing damage plus your primary spellcasting ability score modifier. Because the damage is dealt by a mundane (albeit magically propelled) dagger, this damage is subject to the target’s damage reduction, if any.

Once a dagger has been used to attack, it is destroyed, meaning that a given dagger cannot be used to make more than one attack. Once all of the daggers have been destroyed, the spell ends. Similarly, at the end of the spell’s duration, any remaining daggers vanish in a puff of smoke.

Energy Blade

You transmute the blade of the weapon into energy—either brilliant flame, crackling electricity, or solid, frozen ice. When you cast energy blade,choose cold, electricity, or fire. For the spell’s duration, all damage that the target deals is the chosen damage type. This does not cause the weapon to deal more damage, just changes the type of damage dealt. This change applies to all damage the weapon deals, including those caused by special weapon properties like flaming or holy.

If the target is used to attack a creature with spell resistance, roll to determine whether or not you beat the creature’s spell resistance with each hit. In the case of a success, you deal damage with that attack as normal. If you fail, that attack does no damage. Either way, the next time you hit that creature you will roll to determine whether or not you beat its spell resistance.

Energy blade has the same descriptor as the energy type chosen when it is cast.